The Willie Nelson tribute last Saturday night (1-12) wasn’t just your average run-through of the hits from a well-recognized cast. Multiple songs not heard before by the public were debuted, including a Willie Nelson tribute song co-written and performed by George Strait and Willie Nelson himself called “Sing One With Willie.” Sturgill Simpson also reached deep in the vault to debut the last song that Merle Haggard ever recorded, another Willie tribute called “Red Headed Rounder,” making a play off the name of Willie’s 1975 album that most consider the greatest country record of all time.

“It’s an honor to be here tonight. This is my first time ever playing the inside Bridgestone,” Sturgill Simpson said before launching into the song, making reference to his notorious busking set streamed on the internet during the 2017 CMA Awards. Then he launched into “Red Headed Rounder,” which Simpson said was written by Merle both for and about Willie.

Well now he sleeps all day, plays his cards all nightSmokes marijuana ’cause it treats him rightWell that Red Headed Rounder, he’s a friend of mineWell that Red Headed Rounder has a good time all the time

According to Merle Haggard’s widow Theresa during a Merle Haggard tribute show at the Bridgestone in April of 2017, “[Merle] was in the studio right before he died. One of [the recordings] is a song about Willie, called ‘Red Headed Rounder.’ It’s going to be coming out soon. There are a lot of songs coming out in due time. He didn’t write a song he didn’t live. The songs that mean something are the ones you believe. That’s why it touches people, because it’s real. I witnessed it, where somebody higher than us would take the pen, and all of a sudden, he’d say, ‘Mama, get the pen,’ and within 5 minutes he had it all written.”

In May of 2015 before Merle Haggard passed away, he revealed that he had some 300 to 400 songs recorded and in a vault he called ‘The Archive.’ The idea was to begin releasing songs from it if or when Merle was unable to perform anymore, or if he passed away. “Red Headed Rounder” may have been the last song Merle ever recorded, but a song called “Kern River Blues” is attributed as last song he ever wrote. It was released a month after Haggard’s death.

Sturgill Simpson became very close with Merle in the twilight of Haggard’s career and life. Merle regularly praised Simpson, saying“I think he’s just about the brightest star around right now,” while hanging with Sturgill at the 2015 Stagecoach Festival in California. Haggard later said Sturgill was “about the only one that I can tell you I’m excited about. You hear a lot of Waylon [Jennings], a lot of George [Jones]. He’s got something going energy-wise that I haven’t seen in a long time.”

Sturgill returned the favor in August of 2016, slamming Garden & Gun Magazine and the ACM Awards for disrespecting Merle, saying in part, “If the ACM wants to actually celebrate the legacy and music of Merle Haggard, they should drop all the formulaic cannon fodder bullshit they’ve been pumping down rural America’s throat for the last 30 years along with all the high school pageantry, meat parade award show bullshit and start dedicating their programs to more actual Country Music.”

You can see amateur footage of Sturgill Simpson’s version of “Red Headed Rounder” below. The Willie Nelson tribute is set to air on A&E at some point later in 2019, and hopefully Merle’s studio version of “Red Headed Rounder” will see the light of day soon. Simpson also should be announcing his own new music soon. He’s said recently that a new album is finished, and has rumored it could be a double album.

I guess we’ll have to wait for a recording to be able to make out the lyrics. I love sturgill but sometimes I wonder why he can’t enunciate a little more. Anyway, don’t anyone go assuming this is a harbinger of things to come in the new album. Based on sturg’s track record, that’s a good way to get your feelings hurt.

And is anyone else picking up a weird dichotomy from sturgill? His music strays further and further from country sonically, but he constantly is showing up at hard country events. It’s almost kind of insulting in a way. Anyway, like he has said before…he’s a “weird artist.”

Gave up on living forever
Willie said, we’re all gonna die
So I sold all my music to Sony
Told all of my family goodbye
Went down to the edge of the water
And I took out my old .22
Willie came by, said it’s too soon to die
You’ve got a whole string of concerts to do

Well now he sleeps all day
Plays his cards all night
Smokes marijuana ’cause it treats him right
That red headed rounder, he’s a friend of mine
Oh that red headed rounder has a good time all the time﻿

Still a fan of Sturgill’s music. I think he’s going to regret only making 5 records. He’s got more to say than that. The next two won’t be “country” and I think he has a few true country records in him. But like he always said, Marty Robbins was a huge influence on him and no ones music ever changed as much as his.

Yes, Sturgill can sing with marble mouth, but I wouldn’t blame him in this particular instance if you can’t make out all the lyrics. This is one of the reasons I hate posting cell phone videos, and only do so if they’re culturally significant enough to justify. This video was taken from behind the main speakers. The video of George Strait singing is taken from that same angle, and you can barely understand what he’s singing either.

Idk, that’s a pretty good recording. The instrumentals sound crystal clear and a small portion of the lyrics are clearly audible at times. This is my one gripe about his vocals across all his records and performances. He goes in and out of being intelligible constantly. He had one lyric to sing with Stapleton on SNL and he sounded like wheezy bagpipes. Hasn’t vocal issues been a problem for him in the past back when he was touring like a maniac? I get the impression that he started going for a different vocal sound after all the comparisons to Waylon — which would fit into his personality of wanting to be unique.

Jimminy Glick had the greatest range in history, but that doesn’t make him a good singer. I don’t think Sturgill is horrible, but he is not the vocal god some make him out to be; especially on Sailor’s Guide.

“Kern River Blues” was the last song Merle Haggard ever wrote. “Red Headed Rounder” is the last song Merle ever recorded. Both Sturgill and Merle’s widow went out of their way to make that distinction, though it is kind of confusing.